Community Outreaches Outreaches Rural Urban Total Female Male Female Male Bulawayo 453 6,299 4,591 5,719 5,368 Participants 21,977 Gweru 204 5,926 4,662 658 372 11,618 Harare 624 7,355 5,046 5,859 2,349 20,609 Masvingo 264 5,487 4,041 510 136 10,174 Mutare 137 2,285 1,211 1947 560 6,003 Total 1,682 27,352 19,551 14,693 8,785 70,381 In order to reach members of the community where they live and work the LRF arranges outreaches through clubs, farming groups, clinics and other such community groups. The topics for this year were determined through needs assessments, which included discussing with community leaders and networking partners working in targeted communities. Centres also analysed trends in the cases they handled, which guided them in identifying community needs. The evaluation forms completed after outreaches and workshops were also used to identify topics for future outreaches. Participants at theManatse Village, Mutasa District Whilst participants might not have needed the information immediately, they were nonetheless capacitated so that when or if a problem arose weeks or even months later they knew that they could seek help for themselves or a friend or relative and where to go. In a period of three months 500 people who had themselves attended legal education sessions then came to consult staff at the LRF centres. A further 483 clients who sought the assistance of the organisation reported that they had been referred by friends and relatives who had interacted with the LRF and been assisted, all attesting to the fact that they could now determine when their rights were being violated. “The law is good because it ensures equality and does not favour one person over the other.” Seven people in Zaka district sought help from the LRF on inheritance issues after attending one outreach session on that topic. Cases of child abuse have been acted on by the police when participants who attended outreaches covering the topic were emboldened to report the matters. A week after an outreach, one participant alerted our Midlands office of a case of a young girl who was being sexually abused by her father and a report was made to the police. In Zaka two cases of child abuse were unearthed as a result of outreach sessions. In one case, the parents were arrested and the other case is still under investigation. 8

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